Raincoast’s new evidence on Southern Resident killer whales for the National Energy Board’s reconsideration of the Trans Mountain Expansion

Published on 2019 · 02 · 20 by The Raincoast Conservation Foundation

Photo by Scott Veirs.

The National Energy Board is now preparing its recommendations to cabinet on the Trans Mountain Expansion. When we won our legal case in the federal court of appeal in August 2018, the courts quashed the Trans Mountain permits and required the National Energy Board to reconsider their recommendations. This required a review of marine impacts and further consultation with Indigenous Nations.

Below is Raincoast’s updated evidence submitted to this review in December 2018. The key features of our new evidence include:

A statement of written evidence by Dr. Paul Paquet.

An update to the Population Viability Assessment [for the Southern Resident killer whales] by Dr. Robert Lacy et al. This updates the threat assessment and likelihood for recovery conducted in 2015 and the peer-reviewed publication in Scientific Reports in 2017.

A report by Misty MacDuffee et al. that updates aspects of information Raincoast filed in 2015 by Lacy et al. and Logan et al. It differs from the 2015 reports by focusing just on the interaction between Fraser Chinook, Southern Residents and oil spills. This report updates:

the status of Fraser Chinook salmon, a preferred prey for Southern Residents;

oil spill concerns for Fraser Chinook salmon and their habitat;

oil spills concerns for Southern Residents.

A report by Dr. Scott Veirs et al. on impacts of Project-related shipping on Southern Residents, and in particular noise impacts and potential mitigation. It updates and expands upon the 2015 report by Dr. Christopher Clark that Raincoast filed in the previous hearing, concerning acoustic and physical disturbance from Project-related shipping.

A report by toxicologist Kate Logan concerning the oil spill dispersant Corexit 9500. This dispersant was approved for use on oil spills in British Columbia after the previous Trans Mountain NEB hearing.

A status update by Dr. Deborah Giles describing her observations of births and deaths in the Southern Resident population in the summer of 2018, and an update on the population size.